CHAPTER VI
The Conquest of al-Madâʾin
An-Nakhîrkhân slain by Zuhair. After the battle of al-Ḳâdisîyah, the Moslems started off, and after passing Dair [monastery] Kaʿb [?],[1] they were met by an-Nakhîrkhân,[2] who appeared at the head of a large body of men from al-Madâʾin.[3] In the conflict that ensued, Zuhair ibn-Sulaim al-Azdi seized an-Nakhîrkhân by the neck; and they both fell to the ground. Zuhair took a dagger that was in the other man's belt and cut open his abdomen, thereby putting him to death.
Bahurasîr. Saʿd and the Moslems went and occupied Sâbâṭ. They then assembled in the city of Bahurasîr,[4] which lay in the Shiḳḳ al-Kâfah [western bank of the Tigris], where they spent nine months (others say 18),[5] during which they ate fresh dates for two seasons. The inhabitants of that city fought against them until they could offer no more resistance, at which the Moslems entered the city. When the city was thus reduced, Yazdajird ibn-Shahriyâr, the Persian king, resolved to flee and was suspended in a basket from the wall of al-Abyaḍ fort in al-Madâʾin and was therefore called by the Nabateans Barzabîl [the
